A small kickstarter campaign reached out to me and ordered 20 sets of rpg dice and 100 custom d6. I’ve been working on this for a while now and they are almost ready to bag and ship.
It’s a long process from 0 to production. I designed and 3D printed a set of dice, polished and treated them to be chemically compatible with silicon. I use those to make silicone molds and store them in a safe place where they won’t get scratched or damaged.
From the silicone molds I can use resin and whatever colors and inclusions I want to make all sorts of dice. Once the resin is poured it goes into a pressure pot for 24 hours to cure. Then I use acrylic paint to fill in the numbers before giving them a final polish to get rid of any excess paint and/or imperfections on the surface.
Normally I make one or two sets a week on my spare time, this was my first big order and it totaled 240 dice which has tied up a lot more time than I would usually spend. I’m not likely to do something this big again. The money is good but it’s a lot more work than I want from a hobby.
I’m not familiar with how small run dice are made, how do you make and paint these?
It’s a long process from 0 to production. I designed and 3D printed a set of dice, polished and treated them to be chemically compatible with silicon. I use those to make silicone molds and store them in a safe place where they won’t get scratched or damaged.
From the silicone molds I can use resin and whatever colors and inclusions I want to make all sorts of dice. Once the resin is poured it goes into a pressure pot for 24 hours to cure. Then I use acrylic paint to fill in the numbers before giving them a final polish to get rid of any excess paint and/or imperfections on the surface.
Normally I make one or two sets a week on my spare time, this was my first big order and it totaled 240 dice which has tied up a lot more time than I would usually spend. I’m not likely to do something this big again. The money is good but it’s a lot more work than I want from a hobby.
Great work!
I did that for a friend's KS once. This is why I refuse to make them for money anymore - too much stress for my hobby.
I probably won’t accept an order this large again. It did kinda suck the fun out of it.